Principal’s memo says First Amendment only for Christians

A Florida principal sent a notice to teachers quoting a pastor who said the First Amendment only applies to Christianity and that public schools need to promote God, the Bible and Christian prayer, the Florida Times-Union reported.

He doesn’t see what’s wrong with it, but the superintendent, the Freedom from Religion Foundation and others who are sensitive to how religion is treated in schools do.

The principal, Larry Davis, sent his 40-person staff a memo that mentioned the weekly prayer session and quoted a pastor.

“Pastor Steven Andrew states: ‘Our children need God back in schools,’ and he is calling Christians nationwide to bring back the Holy Bible and Christian prayer to schools. The First Amendment was for Christianity, not other religions. The first Amendment says, ‘Congress shall make no law… prohibiting the free exercise of the [Christian] religion.’”

Christian events like “See You at the Pole” are generally allowed in public schools as a way for students–even elementary schoolers, as federal court ruled recently–to express their faith freely; however, teachers cannot advocate for a religious tradition or observance.

Davis’ memo seems to push them to do so and raised flags with the school district. (Side note: The longest section in the memo is a discussion of Congressional salaries and a criticism of the federal government, which had no ties to school events, teacher pay or even education in general. It’s unclear why half the memo is dedicated to religion and politics and the cookie dough sales and upcoming drug free week are briefly mentioned at the bottom.)

“I think we’re over the line in terms of what is allowed in the public schools for an administrator to be, in a sense, promoting this,” Superintendent Ben Wortham told the newspaper.

“That a faculty member of an elementary school – a principal, no less – would attempt to pass such egregiously false information off as fact displays an utter lack of respect for the school environment and the education of the hundreds of children entrusted to his care,” Schmitt said in a press release. “All students are equal under the law. The principal’s promotion of Pastor Andrew’s bigoted and ignorant remarks raises serious concerns about his professionalism.”

Principal Davis has said he does not agree with the pastor’s remarks and doesn’t think including them with the other notices was an indication that he endorsed the beliefs.

“To me it just looked like it all went together with the morals. I don’t think it was a stretch at all for him to make those comments or for me to share them,” he said in the Times-Union.